Alcohol and alcoholism : international journal of the Medical Council on Alcoholism
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To measure the prevalence, pattern and associated financial cost of alcohol-related ambulance call outs in the North East of England using routinely collected data from the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS). ⋯ In a 1-year period, we estimated that over 31,000 ambulance call outs were alcohol-related. A large discrepancy was found between manual and electronic recording of alcohol-related ambulance attendances to A&E. The workload and cost of alcohol-related call outs is high and mostly preventable. Ambulance visits may present a teachable moment for brief intervention to reduce alcohol-related risk and harm.
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Multi-buy is one method by which retailers discount alcoholic beverage sales. It is common in the UK. ⋯ Because other methods for lowering price as a marketing tool will be used, the longer-term impact is unknown. Legislating a minimum price per unit of alcohol may have a longer lasting effect on overall alcohol consumption.
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This study assessed the acute effect of ethanol on GABAergic transmission at molecular layer interneurons (MLIs; i.e. basket and stellate cells) in the cerebellar cortex. The actions of ethanol on spontaneous firing of these pacemaker neurons were also measured. ⋯ Ethanol exposure differentially increases GABA release at stellate cell vs. basket cell-to-Purkinje cell synapses. This effect may contribute to the abnormalities in cerebellar function associated with alcohol intoxication.
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Tolerance to ethanol-induced inhibition of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) is thought to underlie the acute adaptive mechanisms against ethanol. To explore these compensatory upregulating mechanisms of NMDARs, we investigated the expression and phosphorylation of NMDAR subunits in vivo following an acute ethanol treatment. ⋯ Acute ethanol treatment increased NR1 subunit phosphorylation and NR2A and NR2B subunit expression in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus of rats. These effects of ethanol on the NMDAR subunits may underlie the mechanisms that compensate for ethanol-induced inhibition of NMDARs. However, the regulation of NR2A and NR2B in this paradigm is not dependent on transcriptional changes.
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To conduct a systematic review of pharmacological agents used to treat sleep problems in alcohol recovery. ⋯ Trazodone has the most data suggesting efficacy. This finding is tempered by a study suggesting its association with a return to heavy drinking in some patients. Data regarding the efficacy of gabapentin are unclear at this point.